


Long Distance Communication

by Alice_h



Series: A Secret Love [5]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, F/F, Love, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 08:52:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18989344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_h/pseuds/Alice_h
Summary: After the battle of Stalacta Caves, Adora returns home with a communication device. Meanwhile, Catra faces the wrath of Hordak.





	Long Distance Communication

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a little less cute and a little darker, with plenty of Catra angst and anger! Apologies if you are waiting for more cuteness, there will be more of that soon.

“Aw yeah! We got so much stuff! I can’t wait to take it all apart,” Bow squealed in delight. After the Horde had fled from the Stalacta Caves, Adora, Glimmer and himself had picked up lots of the technology they had left behind. Some of it was slightly damaged, sure, but even in that state it would give them so much information about the Horde and their tech.

Glimmer forced a laugh. It was great that they had defeated the Horde, but dismantling gadgets didn’t hold the same excitement for her as it did for her friend. She absent-mindedly picked through the pile of Horde tech in front of her, looking at a few bits but not really knowing what any of it did. Adora, on the other hand, was slightly more interested. Since Entrapta had started helping the Horde, their technology had advanced in leaps and bounds to the point where she didn't even recognise anything any more. She grabbed a small metal box, about the size of her forearm and held it up, “So what’s this?”

Bow took it from her, “I’m not sure, I’d need to look inside to know for sure, but it looks like part of a mining machine.”

“And this?” Adora brandished a smaller plastic device with a few buttons.

“That looks like a communication device. I’ve already got a few of those.”

“Huh,” she replied. Communication? Could she use it to communicate with Catra? “Can I have this one?”

“Sure,” Bow replied, “And if you can figure out how it works, tell me. I have no clue.”

This was slightly disappointing for Adora to hear, but if there was any possibility that she’d be able to talk to Catra whenever she liked, she was going to take it. Wishing the two of them the best of luck with their finds, she left Glimmer and Bow and took the device back to her bedroom.

“Come on, come on,” she hissed to herself, pressing various buttons. Nothing happened. She tried holding each button down, pressing different combinations and tapping them rapidly, but the device remained silent.

“Aaaaaaarggghh,” she screamed, throwing it across the room. After Scorpia had interrupted them back at the caves, she’d not had any chance to talk to Catra and arrange to see each other again. Adora _needed_ to see her, being apart made her feel empty. Catra’s love was a big part of her, and without it she was incomplete.

She flopped onto her bed and sighed. If only she had been able to get the thing working then maybe she would have had a chance to hear Catra’s voice and then everything would be-

“ _chhhk …id Hordak, does-chhkkk…”_

Adora jumped to her feet. That was Catra’s voice – the comms device…it worked! She ran over to where it had landed and picked it up. A light blinked on the front, signalling it was up and running. Adora pressed a button.

“Catra?”

No response. She pressed another.

“Catra?”

Nothing. Adora felt her heart sink, she’d come so close and yet was still so far a-

“ _Adora?”_

* * *

 

“Tell me again, Force Captain Catra, how you managed to not only lose our hold on the Stalacta Caves but also let a large amount of Horde technology into the hands of the enemy,” Hordak demanded. His voice was unnervingly calm, and Catra could feel the anger bubbling, ready to overflow.

“My Lord, we were ambushed. And they went straight for the tech…She-Ra was-“

“Ah yes, She-Ra,” interrupted Hordak, “Your friend Adora is our biggest problem, Force Captain.”

“I don’t think we should focus on her,” pleaded Catra.

“You don’t?” Hordak’s voice became louder, “THAT is why you failed, Force Captain.”

Catra became nervous, “It-it’s not, I swear, I…”

The Horde leader flipped a lever and a bolt of power surrounded Catra. The air around her immediately became thin, and she gasped for breath.

“THAT IS WHY YOU FAILED, IS IT NOT?” he boomed.

Every part of Catra wanted to shake her head, but she knew that for an easy life she should just tell him what he wanted to hear.

“Ye…yeah,” was all she could muster with the little air that remained. Tears streamed from her eyes as she tried to stay alert.

“Very well,” Hordak’s voice became calm again as he flipped the lever once more, restoring the oxygen. Catra fell to her knees as she rapidly gulped in breath after breath. While she did, she listened to her orders with horror, “You must dispose of her, Force Captain. Adora is a nuisance to me, and those who are a nuisance to me must be removed. Do you understand?”

Catra nodded.

“Dismissed,” said Hordak nonchalantly.

Catra got back to her feet and ran out. She ran through corridors, straight back to the dorm, and dived onto what used to be Adora’s bed. She pulled the duvet up over her head and curled up underneath, sobbing gently. She didn’t want to have to choose between her own safety here and that of her girlfriend. If she refused to carry out Hordak’s orders then she would be imprisoned…or _worse._ And obeying them was out of the question.

“What do I do?” she mumbled to herself, “Stupid Hordak, doesn’t trust me to do anything and now he’s trying to make me kill Adora? I’m not doing that, I ca-“

“ _Catra?”_

She jumped. Was that Adora’s voice? Coming from her comm device? She shifted herself, and pulled it out from under her back, realising that she had inadvertently activated it when she laid down.

“Adora?”

* * *

 

“ _Catra! It works! It’s so good to hear your voice_ ,” the relief was clear in Adora’s voice.

“How did you…?” Catra began, but curiosity was not the emotion she communicated. The tone of her voice and the sniffling made it evident that she was not alright.

“ _It doesn’t matter. Are you OK?”_

“I’ll be fine. I just got chewed out by Hordak,” Catra tried desperately to mask her true feelings, “You know how it is. ‘You’re a horrible failure’, ‘I’m going to nearly kill you’, that sort of stuff.”

“ _Catra that’s not good_ ,” Adora worried for her girlfriend, “ _He nearly killed you?_ ”

Catra sighed, “Can we please not talk about this right now? I just…I’m glad you’re here. Well not, _here_ here but, you know what I mean.”

“ _Yeah, I know. I missed you so much_.”

“I miss you too,” Catra said quietly, “I need to see you again.”

“ _Me too. I need to see you, like, now_ ,” giggled Adora, eliciting the tiniest laugh from her girlfriend.

“I love you.”

“ _I love you too, Catra.”_

A rush of cold air startled Catra, as the duvet was thrown off her. Instinctively she hid the comm device under her body and looked up to see a concerned-looking Scorpia.

“Ooh, practising declaring your love?” she teased.

“Go away, Scorpia,” Catra scowled.

“I was worried about you, Wildcat. I heard Hordak shouting and then I heard you crying and talking to yourself in here so I-“

“ _Catra? Are you okay Catra?”_ came the voice from the comms device.

Scorpia stood back, “Was that Adora?”

Catra jumped to her feet and squared up to the taller woman, “Go. Away. Scorpia,” she hissed, rage filling her eyes.

“ _Kitty? I’m getting worried, please say something.”_

She grabbed the device and spoke into it, “I’m fine, Adora. I just have something to take care of.”

The communicator clattered as she threw it to the side. She pushed Scorpia against a wall and held her there with an arm against her chest. Despite her smaller stature, Catra was remarkably strong, and was able to pin her against the wall without Scorpia being able to escape.

“Ca-Catra? I…I should just leave you and um… yeah…” Scorpia had never seen such anger from Catra. Of course she’d seen her angry before, but it was nothing like this.

Catra began speaking, with a chilling calmness, “Yeah. You’re going to leave now. And you are not going to say a word about this, because if you do, I will kill you.”

Such a strong threat was uncharacteristic of the girl, and Scorpia felt more concern than fear, “No, don’t… I… Adora is going to cause you so much grief. She already is, she isn’t worth this.”

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT SHE’S WORTH!” yelled Catra, inches from Scorpia’s face, “YOU DON’T EVEN COME CLOSE TO HER!”

She released her grip and stood back, allowing Scorpia to go. As she left, she turned back to look at Catra.

“This isn’t you.”

Catra stared back as Scorpia exited the room. Once she was out of sight, Catra turned around and screamed as she punched the wall behind her. Everything felt like a mess. Hordak wanted her to kill her girlfriend, she’d lost her temper at her friend, Adora was still so far away… she felt as though she had ruined everything she had. Scorpia was right, this wasn’t her.

She picked the comms device back up, “I’m here, Adora,”

“ _Oh thank goodness, is everything okay?”_

“Yeah, I’m-“ she looked up at the doorway. Scorpia stood there with the rest of her team.

“I didn’t want to do this,” she sighed, “But it’s for your own good.”

Catra held the communicator up as she stared at the group, “I’m sorry, Adora. I’m so sorry.”


End file.
